Saturday, June 6, 2015

CONTRACTOR ELECTROCUTED BY POWER LINE WHILE WORKING ON NORTH CHARLESTON ST. MATTHEWS BAPTIST CHURCH ON A CHERRY PICKER



JUNE 5, 2015

NORTH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

A man working on a North Charleston church was shocked unconscious when he came into contact with a power line on Friday.   The man was in the bucket of the cherry picker to repair items at the church.

The contractor was shocked while working on St. Matthews Baptist Church at Grayson and North Atlantic streets on Friday morning, North Charleston Fire Department spokeswoman Bianca Bourbeau said. 

As he swung the bucket around, the cherry picker hit a 7,200-volt line owned by South Carolina Electric & Gas.

Crews arrived to see a man in a lift unconscious. South Carolina Electric & Gas cut off the power to the line and firefighters lowered the man to the ground in a platform ladder truck. 

EMS treated the man and transported him to the Medical University of South Carolina with life-threatening injuries. More information on his condition was not available. 

These are preventable accidents.  People always take shortcuts to safety for all kinds of reasons (cost cutting, shorten the job duration, ignorant of the power line risks, etc.) and they end up injuring themselves.